Cancer crisis looms due to lack of experts

About 31,700 people are diagnosed with cancer in Scotland every yearALAMY

Scottish ministers have been warned by the world’s biggest independent funder of cancer research that they must tackle an NHS workforce crisis which is preventing patients from being tested quickly enough for the disease.

On this, world cancer day, Cancer Research UK argues that there is inadequate capacity in Scotland’s health service to ensure early diagnosis which it describes as “vital if Scotland is to improve its survival outcomes”.

In 2009, the Scottish government set a national standard that patients should not wait more than six weeks to have one of eight key diagnostic tests and investigations, but in evidence to a Holyrood inquiry the charity complains that this target is not being met.

For the quarter ending September 30, 2017, almost 78,000 patients were…

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